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Sunday, July 29, 2012

First view of Havlock - from jetty No.1

After visiting the RossIsland
and ViperIsland
the previous evening, we had rested ourselves during the evening, barely going
out to the Aberdeen
market to buy a few trinkets & spices for friends & family.We got up early next morning and were dropped
at the specific boarding point at 7.30 A.M by the driver, wherefrom the buses
run by Makruzz Company dropped us at the Phoenix bay jetty.Here we were issued boarding passes and our
luggage was checked in and we boarded the Catamaran for Havelock.It is a very good means for traveling to Havelock, which is at a
distance of 50 nautical miles from Port Blair by sea and offers accommodation
in three categories i.e. Premium, Deluxe and Royal.Whereas, the Premium class seats passengers
at the deck level and costs Rs.735/- per ticket, the Deluxe class seats are
above the deck level and cost Rs.950/- per ticket and the Royal class is also
in the same level, but separated through curtains with more plush chairs and
cost Rs.1150/- per ticket for a one way journey.The boat left the shores at 9.00 A.M. sharp
and docked at the Havelock
jetty in exactly 1½ hours time.

Map of Havelock Island

Boarding the Catamaran - Makruzz at Port Blair

Havelock is a picture perfect
island with beautiful long beaches and lush green forest cover. It is a nature’s paradise, resplendent with
white sand beaches, coral reefs with a colorful array of aquatic life, palm
trees, as well as dense forests in the interiors. Havelock
is a longish piece of land (area 113 sq.km) lying in the group of islands
collectively called the Ritchie’s Archipelago. People mainly from Bengal have settled here, but occupy only on the
northern, one-third part of the island in small hamlets & villages. Each village and the adjoining beach are
referred to both by a number and a name. The jetty is in the north at Village
No.1 and is the conceptual centre of the island. RadhanagarBeach (No.7) is 12 Km. towards South
West, Vijaynagar (No.5) is 4 Km. towards South-East of the main Havelock jetty. The main
bazaar is situated in vicinity of Village No.3. Most of the accommodation is however located
in Village No.5 (Vijaynagar) area. There are some hotels in Villages No.3, No.1
& No.7 and even at Kalapathar -10 kms away from the jetty. As we had booked our hotel in advance, known
as the Dolphin Resort run by
the tourism department, which is situated at Vijaynagar area, I hired an auto
to drop us there. The chap driving the
auto was a Bengali fellow called ‘Shubho
Biswas’ (Mobile No.09476076338) and had agreed to drop us for Rs.80/-,
during the journey to the hotel complex we chatted up with him and on approach
to the hotel, found that it was a secluded area and it would be impossible to hire
any means of transport easily from the spot.
The auto driver agreed to take us to Radhanagar beach and drop us back
for Rs.400/- and accordingly, he was hired and asked to report back at the
hotel to pick us up after lunch, at around 3.30 P.M.

Selling wares near Radhanagar Beach

View after the rains at Radhanagar Beach

Rain clouds looming over Radhanagar beach

Sunset over the Radhanagar beach

The RadhanagarBeach on Havelock
has been voted as the BestBeach of Asia by The
Time Magazine in the year 2004 on the basis of the quality of sand, sea, depth
and other parameters. Most of the tourists therefore, flock to the RadhanagarBeach
in Havelock.
Radhanagar beach is a long, crescent-shaped beach with silver white sand. It’s foreshore is framed by fine, mature
specimen trees of the tropical rainforest and it terminates to the north and
south by steeply rising ground which become forest covered buffs dropping down
to the sea. Although, activities like
food courts etc. are banned from the core beach area, one can shop for trinkets
etc. at the shops nearby. For those who
like to be with the nature, the Department of Tourism offers cozy and
eco-friendly tented accommodation right in front of the beach at Radhanagar
during the season. The sunsets from this beach is famed as being the picture-
perfect view. Having garnered all the
information, we headed for the famed RadhanagarBeach right on the
scheduled time, as Mr. Shubho Biswas had turned up right on time. However, as soon as we boarded his auto, it
started drizzling, but being a part of their daily activity, the autos here are
well prepared for such eventuality and the covers put in by the driver, did not
allow even a single drop of rainwater to breach it to drench us. Having gone past the market area junction, we
embarked on the side road leading to RadhanagarBeach that runs through
some hillocks and en-route we found a big snake laying on the road surface, having
been trampled under some vehicle tyre.
After driving for a good 30 odd minutes we reached the famed Radhanagar
beach, but as it was still raining, we took refuge inside a shop and I ordered
some tea for us. Meanwhile, my wife and
daughter literally jumped into the adjoining shop for buying trinkets for
themselves and by the time I had finished with my tea, they had purchased a
truckload of them. As the rain had also
relented by this time, we headed for the beach, but could not watch any sunset
as the cloud cover had shut out the spectacle, but still I managed to get a
small solace.

View of the beach from Dolphin Resort

On our return back the auto driver
offered to take us to Elephant Island through the forest route, which he
assured was doable and as I wanted to avoid the trip by a small speed boat
(Rs.2000/- round trip), I agreed and it was settled that we would pay him
Rs.1800/- in total for all the trips in Havlock over the next two days,
including the one we had performed on that day.Accordingly, it was settled that we would head for the ElephantIsland
the next day and start from the hotel at 10.00 A.M. sharp.

Sunrise over Baratang

Day 3 (Day 6 since
we arrived in Andaman)

The
next day, we again started early as we had to reach Baratang by afternoon, since we were scheduled to visit the Parrot
islands during the evening. As per our
pre-decided plan, we again went to Danapur near Mayabunder and had a sumptuous
Breakfast of Aloo Paranthas (stuffed potato fried Indian bread), made with
actual desi ghee (clarified butter), which he charged @ Rs.25/- per parantha,
maybe he got smarter overnight. The
driver disappeared for quite some time and I could make out that he had some
prior appointment at the place and thus, had been insisting upon visiting
Mayabunder during the return leg. Having
stuffed ourselves well we headed for the long journey ahead, we embarked upon
the 200 Kms. plus journey back to Baratang.
We broke the journey at first at Rangat, where we had some cold drinks
and thereafter, a forced one at Kadamtala, waiting for the ferry and again had
some delectable Pineapples there. After
crossing over to Batuktala we made a run upto Baratang and before going towards
the jetty side, we headed for the Mud Volcano.

The hoarding at Mud Volcano in Baratang

The scene of the actual site of Mud Volcano in Baratang

The
road leading upto the Mud Volcano is in very bad shape and only bigger vehicles
and jeeps can navigate, with difficulty across the terrain. One has to further trudge another 500 odd
meters, 200 of which is upwards to reach the Mud Volcano through some muddy
& slipper slush. The Mud
volcano at Baratang came
into being on 18th February, 2003 when an explosion at night with
fire & mud spews being ejected from the earth, accompanied by minor tremors
shook the region. At present, the Mud
Volcano covers an area of about 1000 sq. meters, with a central semi circular
dome of about 30 sq. meter diameter and is about 2 meters high. The main crater now appears to be submerged
under a mass of grey colored clay, that is intermittently being ejected
alongwith some odorless gasses, at a very slow pace. However, for a person who is not well
conversant with geological presentations, this place does not offer any
spectacular views. Having trudged back
to the vehicle, we headed towards Baratang as we were booked at the forest Rest
House for the night. This Rest House was
the best one I had seen or lived in during my stay in Andaman’s and the staff
too was very courteous and prompt.

On the way back - spotted a Black Serpent Eagle

The Elephant and Mahout - in the jungle

We
had reached the Forest Rest House at around 3.00 P.M and as we were
considerably late, we could not have lunch, but the aloo paranthas that we have
had in the morning saved the day for us.We ordered some Coffee and pakoras (fried snacks) and after partaking
these, took a short power nap to rejuvenate ourselves for our evening
jaunt.At around 4.00 P.M. we headed for the Nilambur
jetty and boarded the boat that was to take us to the famed ParrotIsland.Parrot Island is another of the famous
tourist destinations in Baratang, it takes about 30-40 minutes to reach these
Islands by outboard engine fitted boats and cost @ Rs.400/- per round trip per
person or Rs.2500/- for full boat.The
boats take off after 4.00 P.M and pass through very deep sea with mangrove
forest bearing islands all around.The ParrotIsland
is quite distinct from others and the resident Parrots having trimmed off the
mangrove forest tops with precision, the entire island appears to have been
trimmed by human hands.The boats drop
anchor about 200 odd meters from the shore line and the boats drifts continuously
in the sea water, thus, taking long shots (through telephoto) becomes quite a difficult
task, because of the instability.The
boatmen carry their fishing lines with them and utilize the free time at their
disposal catching some fish for themselves, while the tourists gorge in at the
spectacle that unfolds at the ParrotIsland.The Parrots, numbering in thousands, start homing
in just after the sun set, first in small groups and then their numbers
gradually swell and they roost for the night in these islands.Due to low light conditions, coupled with
continuous swaying movement, it is very difficult to photograph them.According to my estimation, the number of
Parrots is way upward of 7000 and apparently come in from all directions, so it
can be conceived that they come in from all the surrounding Islands of
Andaman’s, within a diameter of 25 odd Kms. or so.After the birds had roosted for the night,
the overboard engines were started and by this time everything had gone pitch
black, only the boatmen knew as to how they navigated their boats during the
night & in pitch dark conditions.It
is a spectacle that one watches but rarely in his life and having gorged in
copious amounts of natural beauty, we bid adieu to BaratangIslands
the next morning.

Parrot Island - on the right hand side - tree tops trimmed like professionals

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Deer found in Baratang jungles

Racket tailed Drongo

Andaman Woodpecker

Austin Creek

Day 2 (Day 5 since
we arrived in Andaman)

The
next day, we again started early at around 6.00 A.M. in the morning as we had
to visit Mayabunder, which is situated about 72 Kms. from Rangat
and about 242 Kms. from Port Blair and thereafter head for the Ross & Smith
Island during the day, before retiring for the night at Diglipur, which is
further 70 odd Kms. from Mayabunder and 328 Kms. from Port Blair. This part of the AndamanIsland
constitutes the North Andaman or North District. It is sparsely populated and has some virgin,
pristine forest cover and home to plethora of endemic birds, some of which I
photographed during my trip. As we headed
towards Diglipur, the driver wanted us to reach there directly and visit the Karmateng
beach at Mayabunder during the return leg of our journey. But we insisted to visit Mayabunder first, as
we were to stop by at Baratang during the return leg for seeing the MudVolcano
& ParrotIsland
and time would become a constraint. He
turned the vehicle, albeit a bit reluctantly and we crossed Pahalgaon village
and reached the tri-junction of Danapur village, wherefrom the road towards bifurcates
towards the right heading to Mayabunder.
We saw a few eating joints here at Danapur and decided to give it a try,
as it was almost 8.00 A.M and we had not
partaken our Breakfast till then. The
shop chosen by us was a small joint run by a Bengali chap, who was yet to
christen his shop, but he was enthusiastic and he offered us thali comprising
of two paranthas (kind of Indian oil tossed bread), a small bowl of
channa/lentils (ghugni in Bengali), some fish/chicken curry (fish one piece or
chicken one piece) and Coconut chuttni and this a la carte cost us a princely sum of Rs.15/- per plate. I reconfirmed the price before tendering the
payment to him, as I could not believe my ears at the paltry sum being charged
by him and promised to have Breakfast at his joint during the return journey as
well. The area around KarmatengBeach
is inhabited by the Karen refugees from Burma and their dress & houses
are quite distinct from the other communities living nearby. Karmateng beach is also
famous for turtle breeding during December to February and also offers
accommodation at the Swiftlet Nest Resort run by the tourism department. The beach is said to have been damaged by the
tsunami in 2004 but is pristine and has big stretches of shades to protect
oneself from the blazing sun. Having
visited the Karmateng beach, we headed towards Diglipur and as we progressed,
going past nondescript villages named Ramkrishna Nagar, Mohanpur et al, I could
sense that we were heading into an area where Bengali settlers are
pre-dominant. The rain clouds were by
now taking an ominous shape and by the time we reached the AerialBay
jetty for visiting the Ross &
SmithIsland,
it was almost 12.00 Noon and it had also started drizzling.

The food stall at Danapur

View of Karmateng Beach at Mayabunder

I
was apprehensive that the drizzle may turn into an outpour from the sky above
and thus, refrained from taking any of my expensive cameras and headed for the Ross & SmithIsland with a small digital
video camera. There was another family
from Chennai, who had were also lodged at the Guest House at Rangat and we came
to know later that our driver had already tied up with him for hiring a boat on
sharing basis. We had paid @ Rs.400/-
per person for the return trip from Aerial Bay Jetty to Ross & SmithIsland
and back. But apart from us, there were
a few freeloaders i.e Policemen from Baratang named Mr.Vikas Singh,
Sub-Inspector (on 18th May, 2012).
This group of Police persons were the real spoil sport for us, who
comprised of another Constable called Mr.Mandal from the Diglipur P.S and
another ASI, as they delayed the return back on their own whims and fancies, it
was only on my strict posturing that they took off after half an hour of
scheduled departure, else they would have delayed us further. I was in a mood to file a written complaint
against these free loaders, who bring in a bad name for government officials
but on insistence of my family dropped the idea of fouling up my holiday.

Distant view of Ross & Smith Island in Diglipur

View of Beach in Ross & Smith Island

It
takes about 20-25 minutes of ride in the boat to reach Ross
& SmithIsland
from AerialBay
jetty in Diglipur and one is allowed to spend about 1½ to 2 Hours by the boat
operators on the Island. Moreover, one has to seek permission from the
forest department to visit these islands and this can be obtained on the spot
also, on payment of a fee @Rs.50/- per head.
These two islands, namely Ross & Smith are two separate islands
connected by a 50 meter wide sand bar, which is totally submerged during high
tides and this separates these two Islands. Whereas, the smaller one is the RossIsland
and is totally uninhabited, it can only be explored with prior permission of
forest department, the other bigger one is called the SmithIsland
is inhabited, but tourists are not allowed to stay back. The place with clear blue waters is of
bewitching beauty and is very picturesque and I rued my luck of not taking the
chance of brining in my DSLR. Another
piece of advice for the tourists is that one should carry ones own food &
water from Diglipur, as nothing is available on the islands. Having visited these enchanting islands, the
return marred by the police wallahs behavior as mentioned hereinabove, we
headed for Kalipur to the Turtle Resort, where we had booked our
stay. There were some geologists staying
at the resort, carrying out some research in the region and I chatted up with
them and had an intense evening of discussions with them. At night, we had another round of sumptuous
dinner comprising of local Chicken et al and retired for the night thereafter.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Map of the Andaman Trunk road (from internet)

The
Andaman Trunk Road runs from Port Blair to Diglipur, a stretch of road that
runs from Chidya Tapu in the extreme south end of the Andaman Island to its’
extreme north i.e. Diglipur, which covers a distance of about 328 Kms. (one
way). The road runs along the eastern
coast line of the Andaman Islands, but
criss-crosses across the heart & soul of these islands, running through its
virgin forests, aboriginal inhabited settlements and across several
straits. Having completed our sojourn in
& around Port Blair, we headed for Diglipur, which was to be a four day
journey.

Jirka Tang - the starting point of the Convoy

The local market up and going early in the morning catering to the hundreds of vehicles & their occupants

The Jarwas - who are protected in these reserve areas

Day 1 (Day 4 since
we arrived in Andaman)

As
advised by our driver & guide for the tour Mr. John, we started early in
the morning at 3.30 A.M. sharp (delaying our start by half an hour after much
haggling with him), in the Mahindra Xylo Jeep, provided by the tour operator
Mr. Deepak, who also owns the ‘Da Bay Inn’ Hotel, in Port Blair, a person whom
I found to be bequeathed with a very amenable & pleasant personality. The main motto of the driver was to be ahead
of all other vehicles in the first convoy that leaves Jirka Tang check
post at 6.00 A.M. After driving through
the pitch dark roads, with hordes of Cows occupying the main road near many a
small villages during the night, being pitch dark with no street lights and
sudden appearance of dark cows or rain pits, it was a nightmare of a journey
from Port Blair to Jirka Tang. However,
when we reached Jirka Tang it was merely 4.45 A.M. in the morning and the sun
was just making an appearance in the east.
Despite having started so early in the morning, we were still second in
the queue and it being a long wait till 6.00 A.M (Indianstretchable Time),
as the convoy invariably starts at around 6.20-6.30 A.M. only, the children
were advised to have a quick nap. But
this was going to be impossible because of the clamor caused by the vendors and
hawkers. Initially, I was reluctant to
buy any street side food, but my experience in the Spiti region last year,
coupled with the advice of the guide, I purchased five (05) plates of Vada (a
south Indian fried snack), as a Doctor friend of mine had suggested that the
hot oil kills most of the harmful Bacteria.
This turned to be our savior, as in the ensuing journey and even in
Baratang we could not get any proper food.

The Middle Strait view

Baratang

The
journey from Jirka Tang commenced with a lot of expectations of encountering
some Jarwa
aboriginal tribesmen, whose pre-historic ways of life have changed little, in
these isolated Islands, during the thousands
of years that they have been inhabiting these islands. These tribes live in reserved forest areas
and occasionally come out on roads, while traveling to different locations for
their day to day needs. In order to
insulate them from the modern culture, interaction with the tourists is totally
prohibited and filming them in any manner is punishable under the law. The road passes through some really
picturesque & virgin forest areas, with a plethora of birds singing, but
few can be spotted from the moving vehicles.
The distance of about 45 odd Kms. is to be crossed from Jirka Tang to Middle
Strait, but takes about two hours time for the entire entourage of
vehicles to cross, as the speed limit is just 40 Kms. per hour on this stretch
of road and that too is seldom achieved because of the State Transport Busses
that move ahead in the convoy, just behind the Police escort vehicle. The Police escort vehicles move at the head
of the convoy and one at the tail end of it, with bike riding Policemen
patrolling in between. The decision to
start early and heed to the advise of our guide/driver paid dividends, as we
were the first to reach the middle strait and board the ferry, with the vehicle
and people et al. Having crossed the MiddleStrait
through a ferry, we reached Baratang (Nilambur jetty),
having traveled about 105 Kms. (in about 4 hours), where we scourged for some
decent food, but nothing was available, so we had a short Breakfast of biscuits
& cold drink. This part of the Islands is in the Middle Andaman or Middle District, as
it is administratively divided at present.
It was almost 8.00 A.M in the morning and it was getting quite humid
when we got into the speed boats to visit the lime-stone caves in Baratang.

Baratang Map (from internet)

View from Baratang or Nilambur Jetty

The
Lime-stone
caves are situated at a distance of about 25 Kms. from the Nilambur
jetty, wherefrom the speed boats can be hired personally (@Rs.2000/- for a
small speed boat for a round trip) or shared with tickets available @Rs.300/-
per head for a round trip. The journey
to the Limestone caves, is an adventure in itself with the speed boats cutting
across the sea water and small islands passing by with Mangroove forests
reaching out into the sea. But as
picturesque as it appears, at times it can be equally dangerous, as the Sea
Crocodiles lurk in the water near the Mangrooves and it is advisable to avoid
putting ones hands or legs out in the sea.
We were bewitched by the natural splendor of green speckled all around
us and at the time we least expected, we were ushered into the Mangroove inlet
and the boat passed deftly, avoiding the overhead branches and roots, through a
narrow natural causeway, which led to a bamboo jetty. We all disembarked and here from started the
1.5 Kms. trek through the tropical rain
forest of Andamans,
for reaching the Limestone caves. As the
rain clouds were gathering, the humidity levels had shot up many folds and the
guide was urging every one to move fast because of the impending rainfall. The weather conditions coupled with the
uneven & slippery walking conditions, were adding to the woes and most of
us were drenched in sweat and parched.
We finally made it to the lime stone caves, which have been formed by
gradual erosion of the rocks rich in Calcium Carbonate (maybe of sea organism
origin) by water over thousands of years, which has crafted these rocks into
various hues & shapes, the only source of ventilation to these caves are
the sky-holes above. Inside the cave, massive limestone formations dangled from the ceiling
like chandeliers, glowed from the sides and sprouted from the ground like short
pilasters. One hung like a thick pillar from the ceiling of the cave and waters
drips into the cave constantly. The serrated edges of the limestone blocks
shine in the dark. Overall, the experience was worth the money and
effort.

The description of Lime Stone Caves

Through the mangrove forest - towards the Limestone caves

Inside the Limestone caves

Having
returned from the limestone caves, we reached Baratang Nilambur jetty at around
11.45 A.M. and our driver suggested that we head for Rangat and should
visit MudVolcano & ParrotIsland
during the return leg. We agreed and
boarded the vehicle, which made its way from Baratang to Rangat, a journey
covering a further 70 Kms. Having passed
Baratang and after having traversed through some more virgin forest, suddenly I
spotted a bird perched high up on a tree and immediately stopped the vehicle to
have a look and take a shot, if possible, it was an endemic Andaman Sea Eagle
and I got a prized catch with my Camera. Having traversed though the jungle area, we
reached Batuktala jetty
wherefrom we again boarded the jetty alongwith the vehicle and alighted at Kadamtala jetty, the cost of
ferry ride across all such straits in Andaman are fixed i.e. @ Rs.4/- per
person & @ Rs.50/- for passenger car/vehicle (one way). We were a wee bit famished by now and decided
to have some fresh fruits being sold by vendors, we found the local Bananas
delectable and the Pineapples sweet and juicy.
Thereafter, we embarked upon our journey from Kadamtala and this was
again through the JarwaReserveForest
area, but no convoy or Police protection is required in this region and one has
to make an entry while exiting the area at Farlobjig
Post. Thereafter, we went past Rangat
township, as we had our booking at the Hawkbill
Nest Tourist Guest House run by the Andaman tourism department and is at a
distance of about 20 odd Kms. beyond main Rangat township/bazar on banks of CutbertBay, the nesting grounds for
the Hawkbill turtles. Enroute we visited
the Amkunj beach, which was
nothing spectacular but for the total eco-concept of the beach, with all the
constructions made of locally available materials like bamboo, wood etc. We
also had a look at the Panchavati
Waterfalls, which is actually a misnomer, as it is small 10-12 feet
high rock from where the rain water drains out to sea and the water flow can
only be witnessed during & just after rains. By the time we had reached the Rest House it
was almost 2.00 P.M. and only after much persuasion and coercion, did the staff
agree to provide Dal & Bhaji for lunch.
This trait I noticed in most of the Tourism run lodges, as the staff is
recruited entirely on ‘daily wages’ basis and are continuing as such for years
together, thus their impetus to work is much dwindled. However, by the time we had refreshed
ourselves, it had started pouring outside and we enjoyed our hot Dal &
Bhaji and rice immensely. Having taken
our lunch, we retired to our rooms as it was not possible to go out &
explore due to intense rain, but I took a shot of a few Kingfishers resting on
the electricity line to ride out the torrent.
Thereafter, I too retired into my room for a nap, as we were up since
3.30 A.M. in the early morning.

The endemic Sea Eagle - perched on tree top almost 100 feet high

Selling Pineapples at the Kadamtala Jetty

Elephants at work

Farlobjig check point

Aerial view of Rangat

Aamkunj beach - Rangat

Enjoying the rain - shot taken from the balcony of Hawksbill Guest House in Rangat

Fisher women loading their catch in local bus at Rangat

More ominous rain clouds gathering at Rangat

After
a good nap, we got up and had a cup of tea, but by this time evening was
setting in, as it sets in pretty early in this region of India i.e. by 5.00 P.M and we quickly dashed out
to visit the nearby CutbertBay. It had already become quite dark by the time
we reached the bay. It was also not very
spectacular and because of the fishing village nearby, it was quite filthy also
and we beat a hasty retreat back to the confines of the Guest House. As the Guest House Manager had seen my
identity as per entry made in the Guest House register, we got a very good
dinner at night comprising of Chicken curry et al, prepared with care &
caution. Having partaken our first &
last true meal for the day, we retired to our beds early in preparation for the
second day of our journey.

Ross Island as seen from Aberdeen Jetty

The first structure to come in sight at Ross Island after alighting at jetty

View of Junior Officers quarters

The local store run by Mr. Ali

The close up of Printing Press now in ruins

View of the Power House

View of the Bakery

View of the Church building

The Commissioners' house

Although we did not take the tour
consecutively for this trip, we had kept a day for this on our return from
Diglipur.However, since I am describing
the places in and around Port Blair in this series, I will place the commentary
here, so that readers do not find it difficult to re-connect at a later
stage.One can have a trip to North BayIsland
(coral islands), Ross & ViperIslands as a one day
round trip to these three destinations.I did not go for the trip to North
Bay islands as I had already visited Red Skin islands and seen the corals,
but during interaction with other travelers aboard Makruzz, while traveling to
Havlock, I found that a multinational company based in Thailand called Sea link
Adventures - http://webovatesolutions.com/tmp/sealinkadventures/about-us.html
was offering sea walking there @ Rs.3000/- per trip with an additional fee of
Rs.500/- for set of seven (07) underwater photographs.However,
you can also do the RossIsland and ViperIsland
trips independently or together in the evenings.

View of gallows at Viper Island

We had been considerably, delayed on
our return from Baratang as the driver sought to take a short cut and routed the
vehicle through Bamboo flat while coming from Baratang. Being a Monday, there was a huge rush at the
jetty and we were struck up at Bamboo flats.
When the tour operator called up on the driver and came to know of our
predicament, he asked us to board the ferry and board another vehicle that was
waiting at the Haddo wharf near Chatham
saw mills. We did accordingly, but
because of the heavy rush we all had a horrendous journey being jam packed on
the ferry like a pack of Sardines. As we
were very late, we headed straight to Ananda Restaurant for having breakfast
and then checked back in the South Point Circuit house. In the afternoon we headed for RossIsland, which was the administrative
headquarters of the British and is now in ruins. It has nothing much to offer, except for
being a Naval Base, where entry for civilians is prohibited and the remaining
area comprises of scattered remains & ruins of once pulsating township of
the elite British officers who controlled the affairs of the Islands around. This Island
houses the ruins of a Church, the Commissioner’s bungalow on top of a hillock,
Press, Bakery etc. but as mentioned all in ruins. The other island called the ViperIsland
was initially the jail house for convicts and freedom fighters of 1857, who
were later shifted to Cellular Jail in 1906 and this island became the primary
jail for female convicts, many of whom were sent to the gallows here, the ruins
of which can be seen even today. The
ruins of the gallows on the hill top can be seen, but the same is in shambles
at present. The name of the island is
said to be have been drawn from the ship by the same name, which was deployed
to establish a Penal Settlement here by Archibald Blair and is said to have
later perished & sunk near this Island. Other than this, these two Islands
have nothing to offer. One can seek to visit
these islands from the Aberdeen jetty
at Port Blair and single round trip to Ross Island costs Rs.65/- for a round
trip and for both combined i.e. including Viper Island it costs around Rs.110/-
for a round trip, whereas if you want to combine all three i.e. North Bay
Island included, the tickets cost @ Rs.350/- onwards for a round trip.